Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters

As produced by The History Channel, this documentary hearkens back to the firestorm of 19th Century slavery. In those years, professional "slave-catchers" profited from the full support of the federal government, as well as armed communities, in their attempts to track down runaway slaves. Yet they often ran into towering resistance from fiercely defensive groups of African Americans. This program examines both sides of the equation, via interviews with historians, dramatic reenactments and incisive archival material.